Spark Bird: John Kessler and the Music of Birds

BirdNote®
Spark Bird: John Kessler and the Music of Birds
Written by Mark Bramhill and Conor Gearin

Mark Bramhill: This is BirdNote.

But before BirdNote existed, producer John Kessler was recording the sounds of Seattle for public radio station KPLU, now called KNKX. From the ferry whistle

    [Ferry whistle]

to the Space Needle elevator operator

    [Elevator Operator: “Welcome to the elevator”]

to salmon leaping in a stream.

    [Water sloshing]

But after a hundred or so of these sounds, John was feeling stumped.

John Kessler: I was like, what makes sound? What makes sound? And I was like, oh wait — birds! Birds make sound.

Mark Bramhill: He connected with some local birders to find the best spots in the city.

John Kessler: I saw some amazing stuff that I had no idea was there. Like a Great Blue Heron rookery at the Ballard Locks.

    [Great Blue Heron calls]

John Kessler: They took me to hear Winter Wrens at a park overlooking the Puget Sound.

    [Wrens singing]

John Kessler: They also sent me with a grebe expert at Green Lake, and like just a hundred feet from a four lane highway, there's these beautiful birds making their little nests on top of the lily pads.

    [Grebes calling]

Mark Bramhill: Shortly after, BirdNote's founder, Chris Petersen, sought out John's musical ear to help create a sound-rich show highlighting the joy of birds. John worked as BirdNote's senior producer for over 18 years.

Recently retired from the show, birds are still a part of John's life. He uses a recording device outside his home to keep track of his local feathered friends. And he's hoping to spend a little more time focusing on his own music.

    [John playing a melody on his Chapman stick]

Mark Bramhill: For BirdNote, I'm Mark Bramhill.

###

Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Field recordings by John Kessler.
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2024 BirdNote April 2024
Narrator: Mark Bramhill

ID# sparkbird-25-2024-04-12    sparkbird-25